Pesach- A Message of Freedom

Soon we will gather around the Seder table and recall our redemption from the suffering of slavery we endured in Egypt. We ask “Why is this night different from others?” This is a particularly profound question for us in this place and time.

We enjoy many blessings. We have prosperity and education; we can live our lives as we choose. We are free. But there are many who are not. What does our freedom mean when there are so many, Jew and non-Jew, who still suffer?

Our tradition teaches us that we are not truly free until all are free. The oppression of slavery comes in many forms including physical, spiritual, and economic. It comes from a sense of hopelessness, the despair that arises when people believe that things cannot get better, that there is only suffering. We are exhorted to help those in need and those who are oppressed to break the shackles that bind them.

We are not truly free until all are free. God’s promise to us is not fulfilled until we deliver on our part of the bargain using our blessings to help others. As we share our prayer “Next Year in Jerusalem,” let us commit to doing our part to help others also reach that profound and great place.